Did COVID-19 Affect News Media Representations of Prisons,Inmates,and Correctional Officers? A Look Prior and Postpandemic

Abstract

This study examines news media representations of Canadian prisons pre and post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Of interest was how media framed coverage of punishment and prisons with respect to discrete, event-driven traditional myths (prisons are dangerous, inmates are violent, correctional officers are cruel) versus more systemic, reform-oriented stories (more rehabilitation needed, racialized peoples over-represented, prison conditions harsh). In a pre-post COVID-19 content analysis of 182 stories, prison articles actually declined. Some traditional prison myths were still present and reinforced, but other myths were challenged and some were rarely seen. Discussions of prison reform were also frequently observed and grew during the pandemic.

Keywords

prisons news media prison myths COVID-19 content analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barak

(2007). Doing newsmaking criminology from within the academy. Theoretical Criminology, 11(2), 191–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480607075847

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Canada (2019). Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), Ottawa, ON. https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf.

Cecil

D. K.

(2019). Newsworthiness of reform: Prison news stories in an era of change. Journal of Crime and Justice, 42(2), 221–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2018.1507834

Champion

C. C.

Berry

T. R.

Kingsley

B. C.

Spence

J. C.

(2016). Pink ribbons and red dresses: A mixed methods content analysis of media coverage of breast cancer and heart disease. Health Communication, 31(10), 1242–1249. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2015.1050082

Chermak

S. M.

(1998). Police, courts, and corrections in the media. In Bailey

Hale

(Eds.), Popular culture, crime & justice (pp. 87–99). Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Cloud

D. H.

Ahalt

Augustine

Sears

Williams

(2020). Medical isolation and solitary confinement: Balancing health and humanity in US jails and prisons during COVID-19. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(9), 2738–2742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05968-y

Corbin

J. M.

Strauss

(1990). Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology, 13, 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988593

Creswell

J. W.

Creswell

J. D.

(2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publications.

10.

Doyle

(2003). Arresting images: Crime and policing in front of the television camera. University of Toronto Press.

11.

Doyle

Ericson

R. V.

(1996). Breaking into prison: News sources and correctional institutions. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 38(2), 155–190. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjcrim.38.2.155

12.

Iftene

, et al. (2020). COVID-19 in Canadian prisons: Policies, practices and concerns. In Flood

(Ed.), Vulnerable: The law, policy and ethics of COVID-19 (pp. 367–380). Ottawa University Press.

13.

Jewkes

(2011). Media & crime (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.

14.

Kappeler

V. E.

Potter

G. W.

(2005). The mythology of crime and criminal justice (4th ed.). Waveland Press, Inc.

15.

Lacoste

Paliwal

Tyagi

Johnson

(2021a). Horrible here”: How systemic failures of transparency have hidden the impacts of COVID-19 on incarcerated women. UCLA Covid Behind Bars Data Project. Retrieved from https://uclacovidbehindbars.org/horrible-here-covid-impacts-incarcerated-women.

16.

Levenson

(2001). Inside information: Prisons and the media. Criminal Justice Matters, 43, 14–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09627250108552957

17.

Lyons

(2020). Incarceration, COVID-19, and emergency release: Reimagining how and when to punish. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 30, 291–317. https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2020.0016

18.

Marsh

(2009). Representations of prisons in the British media—or are we being fair to holiday camps? Criminal Justice Studies, 22(3), 367–374. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786010903167195

19.

Mason

(2007). Misinformation, myth, and distortion. Journalism Studies, 8(3), 481–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700701276240

20.

Nowonty

Piquero

(2020). The global impact of the pandemic on institutional and community corrections: Assessing short-term crisis management and long-term change strategies. Victims & Offenders, 15, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1813229

21.

Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) (2022). Annual Report 2021-2022. Government of Canada. https://oci-bec.gc.ca/en/content/office-correctional-investigator-annual-report-2021-2022

22.

Opportunity Agenda (2014). An overview of public opinion and discourse on criminal justice issues. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/2014.08.23-CriminalJusticeReport-FINAL_0.pdf.

23.

Piché

Walby

Deflem

(2023). Crime and social control in pandemic times. In Flooding the zone, challenging state secrecy: Newsmaking criminology in pandemic times (pp. 107–122). essay. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1521-613620230000028008

24.

Redondo

Gonçalves

Nistal

Soler

Moreira

J. S.

Andrade

Andrés-Pueyo

(2020). Corrections and crime in Spain and Portugal during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact, prevention and lessons for the future. Victims & Offenders, 15, 1156–1185. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1827108

25.

Ross

(2011). Challenges of reporting on corrections: An exploratory study derived from interviews with American reporters who cover jails and prisons. Corrections Compendium, 36(1), 7–13.

26.

Ross

(2012). Debunking the myths of American corrections: An exploratory analysis. Critical Criminology, 20, 409–427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-012-9158-z

27.

Ross

J. I.

(2003). (Mis)representing corrections: The role of our cultural industries. In Ross

J. I.

Richards

S. C.

(Eds.), Convict criminology (pp. 37–58). Wadsworth Publishing.

28.

Saavedra

Silva

A. M.

Seixas

E. C.

Cameira

(2019). Men and women’s prisons in the Portuguese press: The gender of punishment. Punishment & Society, 21(1), 28–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474517736060

29.

Schneider

(2021). Assholes in the news: Policing in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, 10, 59–91.

30.

Surette

(2015). Media, crime and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (5th ed.). Cengage.

31.

Sussman

P. Y.

(2002). Media on prisons: Censorship and stereotypes. In Mauer

Chesney-Lind

(Eds.), Invisible punishment: The collateral consequences of mass imprisonment (pp. 258–278). The New York Press.

32.

Truth, & Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015). Canada’s Residential Schools: TheFinal Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.

33.

Tschanz

Hernandez

(2021). Understanding the carceral experience and the “carceral imaginary” in a lockdown situation: An exploratory study of social representations of prison during a health crisis. Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research, 10, 1–143.

34.

Valverde

(2006). Law and order: Images, meanings, myths. Rutgers University Press.

35.

Vickovic

S. G.

Griffin

M. L.

Fradella

H. F.

(2013). Depictions of correctional officers in newspaper media: An ethnographic content analysis. Criminal Justice Studies, 26(4), 455–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2013.823423

36.

Weinrath

(2016). Behind the walls: Inmates and correctional officers on the state of Canadian prisons. UBC Press, Law & Society Series.

37.

Weinrath

Winterdyk

(2019). Adult corrections in Canada (2nd ed.). de Sitter Publications.

38.

Whittaker

(2021). No news is no news: COVID-19 and the opacity of Australian prisons. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 33(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2020.1859964

39.

World Health Organization (WHO) (2020a). Preparedness, prevention and control of COVID-19 in prisons and other places in detention. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/434026/Preparedness-preventionand-control-of-COVID-19-in-prisons.pdf?ua=1.

40.

Cases cited. Canadian Civil Liberties Association v. Canada (Attorney General) (2019). ONCA 243.